Disagreement exists over the usefulness of the concept of headship in household surveys, and of the use of female headship in the analysis of poverty. Some researchers even argue for getting rid of the headship concept altogether and for organizing the household roster instead around a chosen &ldquo...

IFPRI's Agnes Quisumbing and CGD's Dominique van de Walle joined me to discuss the contexts in which headship is (and isn't) useful, the importance of the circumstances leading to female headship, and how headship can relate to women's property rights and financial security.

In Africa, where widowhood and divorce are common and the rights of women are mostly conditional on marriage, changes in marital status are likely to influence the success of policies aimed at empowering women.